Loren saves the day, brings applesause too!

Dear Friends and Family,
This has been one long day again. I'm so thankful for the blessings of this day. First a walk this morning with beautiful fresh air and friendly runners, then breakfast, then a chance to read a chapter that Sylvia had mailed to me that is very specific about coping with loss. It was outstanding and helped me a lot, to understand that some things like being more forgetful, less organized, stressed they are all normal for a time after a loss. How thoughtful of Sylvia to copy pages for me to read and be helped by.
Loren arrived on time and we left for our 1 hour trip to Vallejo. We found a very nice gentleman who has certainly had his share of loss and grief in the last couple years. He showed us through a very nice updated home, our purpose there was to establish a value as of the day of death of his daughter, December 15. Then we drove to a second home for the same family that was tenant occupied. The people were sweet, the three pitbulls not so sweet and the location was directly adjacent to Highway 80 with constant traffic noise.
Then since we were within a mile we dropped by an Olive Garden for lunch. We had great food and waddled out the door to the car feeling very full. GPS directed us to the next location at Centerville in Rohnert Park. Katie was on duty today at the sales desk and was very helpful as we discussed 5 properties I was to see. This townhome development is located very near to the downtown area and is selling in spite of the bad market. Katie is a very beautiful young woman, blond, blue eyes, about 5 ft 9 in, very well versed in her product and also already a college graduate. She is always so fun to talk to and is always ready with everything I need to complete appraisals. She is a perk in a busy day, a real sweetheart. Loren thought so too but said she couldn't hold a candle to his Emily, well I think I heard him say that!
At around 6 we headed home to face some very stiff traffic on 37 and then on 4 as we neared home. Loren had brought some wonderful CDs which we played in the background all day. Having Loren there made the day go by very fast. Oh yes when he arrived this morning he said he had brought more applesause. YES!
I'm heading for bed now, its 10:20. I was so tired that I just threw some food items together and they all tasted good. Then I sipped mocha and watched a very brilliantly challenging program, South Park. Warming, this show is not for the faint of heart but sometimes the satire is just special. Tonights episode dealth with the only black kid in their little group happened to be a rich kid and he did not fit in as the other kids were poor and that was the norm so he sent out flyers inviting rich people to come to live in South Park. They did but he found he did not fit in with their kids or the poor kids either. That was when I gave it up and came to write the blog so I will never know how it ended.
You can't spend a day with Loren who taught school for a thousand years I think and not be challenged to do some thinking. I like Loren, he knows what he believes and does not really care if someone else likes it or not, he just lives his life properly. I had to laugh for when we got home he jumped out of the bug, went to his car, got out the windex and paper towels and began to work on the front windshield. He had had enough of the glare and grime and worked on it to a point where I can't tell if there is a windshield left in the car or not, yikes it is clean, thanks Loren.
Yes checks continued to arrive today, I just keep smiling thinking of Sylvia's visual of God holding checks in his fist and handing them down to little ol me. I like the picture and the checks too.
Good night precious friends and especially Karen who writes with such compassion in emails. She knows what it feels like to experience loss and she has survived it. Also a special thanks to Elaine Williams who wrote with such conviction this morning. Tomorrow is yet another busy day with current appointments in Oakland and Martinez, also possible ones in other cities too.

Sending my love,

tim